I run a small consulting business and need to start adding official digital signatures to my PDF service contracts instead of just pasting an image. What is the standard way to set this up properly?
The simplest way is to use Adobe Acrobat Reader’s built-in Certificates tool to create a digital ID. Honestly, if you need a proper audit trail for clients though, something like DocuSign or Acrobat Sign is usally standard practice.
Yeah this trips up a lot of people, pasting an image isn’t a real signature, just looks like one. If you’re on a Mac, Preview lets you create a signature with your trackpad or camera and drop it in, but that’s still not a certificate backed signature. For actual digital signing with a certificate, Adobe Acrobat has a built in “Fill & Sign” with certificate option under the signature panel. Keep your original unsigned contract saved separately before you start testing this out.